OMG, the Gama Goat has to be one of the worst vehicles ever made!
We still had them in Germany when I was there (87-89.) I'll never forget one of the first field problems I went on with the MI battalion, they had a couple of Gama Goats with shelters in the back for electronic equipment. Our garrison was in Ansbach, about 20 miles West of Nuernberg (Nuremberg), and our first tactical site was up around Grafenwoehr, about 70 miles to the Northeast. Now, normally you'd figure 70 miles is an hour in a car, especially on the German Autobahn. Even if you threw in the 2 1/2 ton and 5 ton trucks which can easily cruise at 45mph, it's no more than a 2 hour trip, right?
Wrong! It took us 4 1/2 hours to get to the site, and all because we had to go at the same speed as the Gama Goats, or about 25mph! And that was on flat ground - this part of Germany is called the Frankischer Schweiz (Franconian Switzerland) because it's covered by low mountains, and every time we hit a grade those goats slowed down to about 15mph! :yikes:
By the time we got to our field site, the battalion commander was steamed! He said he was never going through that again, and when we redeployed back to garrison, he sent the goats ahead of us in a separate convoy, along with a CUCV (Chevy Blazer) full of mechanics and spare parts to fix them when (not if) they broke down.
Oh yes, and the noise: The Goat has a 3 cyl, 2-stroke (yes, 2-stroke!) diesel engine that is louder than any motor vehicle engine I've ever heard. Not only is it loud, but it's a high-pitched screaming sound that is sort of like a jet taking off.
Bottom line: The only people who ever loved Gama Goats were people who never had to drive them, service them, or depend on them for any reason!
